Member Spotlight: Tom Birdseye

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? I’m drawn to the big questions in life: Who am I? What is my purpose? How do I create meaning? What do I believe? Existential stuff. But also the nitty gritty application of those philosophical puzzles: What is the best way to handle being caught between a rock and a hard place? How do I mend that relationship? What’s the right thing to do at this particular moment? I like to put characters in situations where they have to face adversity, and then see what they are really made of. I think that as readers we are given the opportunity to vicariously experience other people grappling with these questions, which fosters empathy, a very important characteristic in a civilized world. We need it now more than ever.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? For me it’s simple: go for a hike in the woods. I don’t know what the dynamic is exactly, the forest keeps its mysteries as subtext, but I do know that after being immersed for as little as ten minutes, the creative juices start to flow. It’s rare for me to return to the trailhead without a possible solution for whatever has been blocking me.

What is your favorite time to write? I used to be an early morning writer, because that was the only time I had free. (Read: kids, job, the stuff of life.) Now, oddly, I seem to get a surge late in the afternoon. Which doesn’t make sense—I should be tired—but . . . whatever. I take what works!

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Understand there is no secret code …or magic wand that will suddenly turn you into a writer. It takes time, and patience, and—yes, you guessed it—plenty of practice (in other words: hard work). But what’s new about that? The same is true for anything you want to get good at: basketball, piano, gymnastics, art, rock climbing, you name it. The key is to relax and enjoy the process.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? We are at a moment in history in which we—regardless of gender labels, or otherwise—are compelled to delve into who and what we are, what we stand for, and how we might move forward. Stories can help us do that—we see ourselves on the page, or who we might like to be, or maybe even who we don’t want to be. We live the narrative vicariously. And so we evolve, even if in only small increments. As do the stories we tell. My hope is that these truths resonate in some way for readers, shine a light on questions they are pondering, encourage examination.

Tom Birdseye’s There Is No Map for This is out now with Groundwood Books.